|
April 4, 2019
The Scoop
Healing the Community through Design
Compassion, a much needed and often felt emotion in today's world, is a strong cornerstone of design. Compassion is by definition relational - it means to have concerns for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. The emotion of compassion springs from the recognition that the human experience is imperfect, that we are all fallible. Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering. And in that motivation lies the strength and power of our community. We at The Center have made it our mission to be the community's trusted resource and home to the largest collection of healthcare design research, best practices, resources, and tools for today's most urgent and challenging healthcare design issues.
As a community, we are all dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare through design of the built environment, leading the way in transforming hospitals, clinics, wellness centers, doctor’s offices, and residential care facilities for a safer, healthier tomorrow. The Center provides our community with live and virtual events where we can meet and strategize, create and share valuable tools and resources. And, our online resources are accessible anytime, allowing you to optimize your time while providing solutions to design challenges.
Here's a list of some of our latest promotions, events and tools:
To see a complete list of upcoming events including live webinars, click here. The resources and tools we provide are meant to be shared - make sure to pass them along to your team and as always, let me know what tools and resources have been helpful to you in the past, and we'll feature them in our future newsletters.
Be well,
Debra Levin, Hon. FASID, EDAC
President and CEO
Industry News Briefs
Design Trends for Senior Living Facilities
As the preferences of seniors change, owners, managers, and developers are defining new types of senior living in different kinds of settings, tailored to resident desires. The industry is changing to be more integrated into existing communities, providing residents with community connections and non-seniors with an education into the benefits of senior living. Historically, senior living was developed on large campuses in rural and suburban areas. These campuses were a world unto themselves — all services, amenities, and activities were provided so that residents never had to leave. Part of the reason that people overwhelmingly want to age in their own home is that they retain community ties that have likely been fostered over many years. People want to access amenities and services and still feel like they are part of their vibrant, active community. This desire to be connected is forcing developers to locate senior living communities in urban and more dense suburban environments.
Senior living that is integrated into the urban fabric responds to changing resident needs and helps to destigmatize senior living for the population at large, making it more of a mainstream, desirable product. When the greater community can interact with seniors and operators, they see that senior communities are not a place to be feared, but rather, great places to live.
FacilitiesNet, more. . .
The Hidden Advantage: Enriching the Patient Experience with Successful MEP Infrastructure
Today’s healthcare leaders are driven to provide patients with the utmost positive care experience. In today’s competitive marketplace, even the slightest step ahead can result in miles gained. A significant factor in a patient’s experience is an environment where mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are seamlessly integrated. When MEP systems work well, they will blend into the background. But, where there’s an issue, these systems quickly become an unwelcome nuisance.
Facilities encounter many obstacles when faced with renovating or expanding facilities to improve the level of care. A common challenge is optimizing MEP systems. This is especially true in older healthcare facilities where temperatures, filtration, air changes and pressure relationships might be inadequate, plumbing and medical gas systems could be aging or compromised, and electrical distribution capacities may be at or near capacity. Any of these deficiencies can impact a patient’s ability to rest and recover in an infection-free environment.
Medical Construction & Design, more . . .
Building New Research into the Design Process
Ellen Taylor, Ph.D., MBA, AIA, EDAC, has built her career on a mission to ensure that best practices used in the design of health care facilities are backed by credible evidence. This month, she shares how she is furthering that mission as vice president for research at The Center for Health Design.
What are some of the challenges you see in the health care design space, both in process and in design itself?
The separation of capital planning from operational implementation is a challenge. Any time we can evaluate the impact of a design decision on the long-term outcomes, we are ahead on the cost influence curve known by many. You have the most influence with the lowest cost early in the design process. The further into the process, the harder and more expensive it is to change decisions. After occupancy, the only solution may be workarounds. We should strive to advance the integration of design and operations.
It also increasingly feels like architecture is at a crossroads. There is a very traditional and established process that has been in place for decades, but a growing use of technologies, such as building information modeling and simulations, are being used to inform design. Processes such as Lean and integrated project delivery are changing how teams implement projects. Speed-to-market is creating increasing pressure to develop solutions more quickly. These are all challenges to the process, and using research to inform your design can certainly contribute to the process by better knowing what we do and don’t know.
Health Facilities Management, more. . .
Behavioral Health Facility Design Sends a Message
The design of a psychiatric unit requires more than just getting the safety stuff right. Of course, you have to do that, but unlike other types of healthcare, a psychiatric unit is a study in social dynamics and interpersonal relationships. Anyone who is familiar with the famous Stanford prison experiment knows how quickly a position of power can be abused. Hospitals work hard to train staff to be kind and compassionate; to focus on treatment over management; and to de-escalate with gentleness instead of violence. As an architect, I am interested in how the physical environment impacts this dynamic positively or negatively.
Behavioral Healthcare Executive, more . . .
The Center for Health Design would like to thank our
thought leadership partner:
|
|
